Fourth line produced in loss

Sceviour, linemates had six points

As Roberto Luongo’s return to the Florida Panthers lineup stole the spotlight on Saturday night, the addition of fourth-line forward Colton Sceviour paid immediate dividends in the 5-4 overtime loss to the New York Rangers.

Sceviour scored two goals, his first multigoal game since he recorded a hat trick last season against Detroit. He missed the past five games due to an upperbody injury suffered in the Panthers’ 4-1 win over Washington on Oct. 21.

Sceviour’s linemates Derek MacKenzie and Micheal Haley each played key parts in both of Sceviour’s goals, each picking up two assists. It was the first time this season all three had at least one point in the same game.

“I thought they gave us everything they had,” Panthers coach Bob Boughner said. “They created offensively. Those guys all were in on the kill as well. I thought they were a good line for us tonight.”

Sceviour was one of three Panthers forwards to return from an extended absence, with third-line center Jared McCann (lower body) and secondline left wing Connor Brickley (upper body) also rejoining the lineup.

All three players hadn’t played in the same game since the win in Washington.

“We talked about those guys coming back in and being able to roll the lines more,” Boughner said. “Certainly, we got to that tonight. Scev’s line, MacKenzie and Hales, they got us two. It’s disappointing to lose at home, No. 1. Two, when you score four goals. We’re scoring goals, just having trouble keeping them out.”

As the Panthers’ top line of Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov and Evgenii Dadonov has cooled (no goals in the past two games following a 10-point effort against Tampa Bay on Monday night), Florida has found secondary scoring.

Three different defensemen scored goals in the past two games, plus two from Sceviour and two from Vincent Trocheck.

“A little bit of personal success as a line, kind of played well together,” Sceviour said. “But obviously, there’s always things to work on and things we can build off of. I think it’s just one of those games that we played well and we can build off it.” to go and it was a point shot.

“There’s a lot of good things out there, we just got to come back and work as hard as we did tonight. There wasn’t a lot of breakdowns in the d-zone. Three of their goals came from the point. It’s not like there’s someone off alone in front of the net.”

The Panthers have been outshot in seven of their past eight games. They are 2-4-2 in their past eight games.

JOEL AUERBACH/GETTY IMAGES Colton Sceviour, right, had two goals for the Florida Panthers in their 5-4 loss on Saturday night. It was his first multi-goal game since a hat-trick game last season.